Department of Energy

About Department of Energy

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy and nuclear safety. Its responsibilities include the nation's nuclear weapons program, nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy, energy conservation, energy-related research, radioactive waste disposal, and domestic energy production. DOE also sponsors more basic and applied scientific research than any other US federal agency; most of this is funded through its system of United States Department of Energy National Laboratories.

In the United States, all nuclear weapons deployed by the United States Department of Defense (DOD) are actually on loan to DOD from the DOE, which has federal responsibility for the design, testing and production of all nuclear weapons. DOE in turn uses contractors to carry out its responsibilities; design of the nuclear components of the weapon - Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; engineering of the weapon systems - Sandia National Laboratory; manufacturing of key components - Los Alamos National Laboratory, testing - Nevada Test Site; and final weapon/warhead assembling/dismantling - Pantex.

Many federal agencies have been established to handle various aspects of U.S. energy policy, dating back to the creation of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent Atomic Energy Commission. The impetus for putting them all under the auspices of a single department was the 1973 energy crisis, in response to which President Jimmy Carter proposed creation of the department. The enabling legislation was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Carter on August 4, 1977. The department began operations on October 1, 1977. The agency is administered by the United States Secretary of Energy, and its headquarters are located in Germantown, Maryland as well as southwest Washington, D.C., on Independence Avenue in the Forrestal Building, named for James Forrestal.

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Mentioned In 63 Articles
Trapping Sunlight with Silicon Nanowires

Explore Article Berkeley Lab News Center (Mar 3 2010) Solar

...by the National Science Foundation’s Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems. Berkeley Lab is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research f......tional laboratory located in Berkeley, California. It conducts unclassified scientific research for DOE’s Office of Science and is managed by the University of California. Visit our website at http://www... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: Environmental Energy Technologies Division Department of Energy
Feds Taking Requests for $100M in Energy Efficiency Stimulus

Explore Article environmentalleader.com (Mar 3 2010) Emissions , Servers , Storage

The U.S. Department of Energy is injecting another $100 million into energy efficiency in buildings, electricity storage and othe... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: Department of Energy Steven Chu
Green tech seeks its 'Netscape moment'

Explore Article Technology News (Mar 3 2010) Emissions , Fossil Fuel , Solar , Wind

...uce their products at scale. During a panel, Andy Karsner, the CEO of Manifest Energy and a former Department of Energy official, said that renewable energy is starting to scale up but not in the U.S., in part because ... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: General Electric MIT InfoWorld
New federal data center energy-efficiency guidelines on tap

Explore Article Data Center (Feb 26 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

...g a data center's energy efficiency. Along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working with six data center industry groups: 7x24 Exchange, the American Society of Heating, R... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: The Green Grid Uptime Institute ASHRAE
California solar project gets $1.4 billion U.S. guarantee

Explore Article Technology News (Feb 23 2010) Fossil Fuel

...uids to create steam in turbines and generate electricity. The conditional loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy, the largest federal loan commitment offered to a renewable energy firm, would help BrightSource bu......as a way to create jobs and increase international economic competitiveness. Under the program, the Department of Energy issues a conditional commitment to guarantee loans to be provided by the U.S. Treasury's Federa... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: Barack Obama Department of Energy Google
The Green Data Center Strategies of Web Giants

Explore Article Earth2Tech (Feb 18 2010) Power and Cooling , Emissions , Cloud Computing , Servers

... draw from the region’s hydroelectric sources to power its servers. It’s a combo that attracted the U.S. Department of Energy’s attention and helped Yahoo capture a nice chunk of stimulus funds meant to spur advancements in d... (Read Full Article)

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6 Nuclear Power Startups To Watch

Explore Article Earth2Tech (Feb 17 2010) Nuclear

...so the target for $36 billion in loan guarantees that the Obama Adminsitration has proposed for the Department of Energy’s 2011 budget. Still, that same budget request could represent opportunity for the handful of start......plant. Take small-scale nuclear plants, which are the target of some $38.8 million in proposed 2011 DOE spending. These are pretty much limited to aircraft carriers and submarines nowadays, but could rep... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: Greentech Media Department of Energy Los Alamos National Laboratory
Measuring the smart-grid effect

Explore Article Technology News (Feb 4 2010) Monitoring , Carbon Footprint , Emissions , Fossil Fuel

...ift would tend to change people's usage habits, according to a report released last week by the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Researchers at PNNL's Electricity Infrastr...... by the average current U.S. generating power plant. PNNL, located in Richmond, Wash., is one of 10 DOE-managed national laboratories in the U.S. The center is unique in that in addition to serving the r... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: United Kingdom Department of Energy CNET News
Top Data Center Groups Meet, Discuss Efficiency

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Feb 4 2010) Servers

...f The Green Grid, the 7×24 Exchange, The Uptime Institute, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Program, the U.S. Green Building Council, a... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: The Green Grid Uptime Institute ASHRAE
The Price Of Power

Explore Article Forbes.com (Jan 28 2010)

... machines and to cool them is the lowest. So what does it cost around the U.S.? According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the price for industrial operations--basically those companies that can commit to long-term consum... (Read Full Article)

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HP, Eaton Team on Pod-Style Enclosures

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Jan 26 2010) Construction , Solar

A grant for $7.4 million from the Department of Energy will accelerate the development of new enclosures that can improve the energy efficiency of existin......g power distribution, with both AC and DC power options available. In its funding announcement, the DOE noted that the design allows for a DC system to allow the integration of renewable energy sources, ... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: IBM Department of Energy
Princeton U. to Build New HPC Data Center

Explore Article Data Center Knowledge (Jan 25 2010) Construction

...ted prediction models for the path of hurricanes. The Princeton Plasma Physics Lab is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by the University, and conducts fusion energy research. The facility is scheduled to be... (Read Full Article)

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DOE to IT industry: We'll help you get more energy-efficient, if it costs us

Explore Article ZDNet Technology News (Jan 20 2010) Solar , Wind , Servers

...nt Hewlett-Packard and power efficiency specialist Eaton have snagged a $7.4 million grant from the Department of Energy to help fund research focused on improving energy efficiency in IT products. The pair’s joint pr......waste as power moves from one system to another Cooling - More effective methods for reducing heat DOE to IT industry: We'll help you get more energy-efficient, if it costs us Posted by Heather Clan... (Read Full Article)

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Your Tax Dollars At Work

Explore Article Forbes.com (Jan 11 2010) Cloud Computing , Servers

he U.S. Department of Energy's decision to dole out $47 million in research funding to improve energy efficiency in data cen......don't require as much cooling in the first place. The awards, announced Jan. 6, are part of the DOE's ( INTIU.PK - news - people ) Program. Ed Sperling is the editor of several technology trade p... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: IBM Department of Energy Intel
California Recovery Task Force Announces $17.8 Million Awarded For California ...

Explore Article californianewswire.com (Jan 7 2010)

...of the $47 million awarded nationwide. The funding awards were announced nationally today by the U.S. Department of Energy, which will provide more than $17.8 million to California companies to improve energy efficiency in... (Read Full Article)

Comment on Article Mentions: Hewlett Packard Department of Energy